


Underbelly: Darkside Cookies

by Timewaster123456789



Series: Underbelly [8]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst, Dark, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Humor, POV Animal, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29958231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timewaster123456789/pseuds/Timewaster123456789
Summary: Stand alone oneshots of the Arrancar, Vandenreich etc.
Series: Underbelly [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1006056
Kudos: 1





	1. Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time-lapse Ulq Character study from his arrival in Las Noches to his death in anime eps 270-3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. Please checkout my pack mates listed on my profile. Also read Totoromo's (FFN) comedy pieces she(?) is hilarious.

When Ulquiorra first arrived at las Noches he was still just a vasto lorde. After wandering the halls for a bit he came across a huge arrancar standing in front of a presumably locked door, repeatedly trying to get a key to work. After watching in vague amusement for a while it simply got pathetic and he approached the arrancar. He was weaker than most everyone else here and an ally would be useful.

"What is the problem?" he asked.

"Key's bad," the huge arrancar replied trying the key again to demonstrate. Okay so obviously not a member of Aizen-sama's think tank. Ulquioraa sighed.

"Let me see?" he offered. The arrancar handed him the key-ring and he proceeded to try different ones.

"It's that one," the arrancar said pointing.

"That one is obviously not working," he replied. Thankfully the key he was currently trying did, he could feel murderous anger building in the arrancar's reiatsu.

"But…It's that one," he said confused.

Ulquiorra shrugged, "Maybe you accidentally moved them," it didn't seem outside of the realm of possibility.

"No!" he snapped. Ulquiorra let the conversation drop, as he turned to walk away he saw a flash of electric blue hair and frowned.

X

The blue haired arrancar approached him that evening. He learned later that the arrancar's name was Grimmjow. In hindsight this was obvious, who else was that juvenile?

"You ruined my fun," he snarled.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"You gave Yammy his key. I wanted to see how long it was going to take," he replied. Ulquioraa considered enlightening the man as to the definition of 'fun' but, decided that it wasn't worth the effort.

"I think you would have been waiting awhile," he replied. Grimmjow barked a laugh.

"I guess I'm jus' gonna have to let you entertain me instead," he said. "Run!" Ulquioraa did just that but, a vasto lorde no matter how powerful is no match for an arrancar and he quickly found himself becoming acquainted with a wall. For the next ten minutes Grimmjow playfully beat him half to death. He lay dazed on the floor waiting for the next blow to fall when suddenly his assailant went flying into the wall next to him sliding into a heap a few feet away. He raised his head slowly expecting to see Aizen-sama, only to be greeted by the huge arrancar again.

"The fuck are you doing," Grimmjow snarled rising to his feet. Yammy didn't answer, merely stood there radiating malice, Grimmjow made as graceful a retreat as he could mumbling something about having Shinigami to kill.

"You're called Yammy right?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Yes,"

"Why did you help?"

"Fuck Grimjoww," well at least this Yammy was succinct.

He contemplated it for a moment and decided that it was a perfectly reasonable explanation,"Well thank you regardless, I'm Ulquioraa."

x

When he became an Espada they found…he wouldn't deign to call it friendship it was more symbiosis. Yammy took advantage of his intellect and in exchange gave him a ridiculous amount of loyalty and obedience despite his power and shifting status. It was an…acceptable situation.

x

Ulquiorra was of value to Aizen-sama because he was different from the other arrancar. He did not cause any infighting outside of Grimjoww's jealousy of him, followed orders to the letter not seeking his own glory, in short he had no ambition,. He didn't care where he stood. His only desire was to make others feel as empty as he. In a world where everyone was like him, with that hole in their chest he wouldn't be alone. He couldn't understand the passion others felt, striving for what? Why? It made no sense, caused nothing but trouble and was extremely annoying besides.

Then he met her, a simple job acquire and break the god-girl. No matter how hard he tried though he could _not_ break her, she kept talking about her damn friends like they were some sort of tailisman. He began to think that maybe that this was why people had passion, there was utterly illogical strength in it. He didn't understand this thing, wanted to toy and experiment with it but, orders were orders. Then the day came that he realized he'd never break her. He'd left the room more abruptly than he should have, returning to his quarters. For the first time in memory he wished he could weep, yet no tears came.

x

He preferred midnight, the hour of despair, his hour. As he fought Ichigo under the Hueco Mundo night sky he felt the closest thing to alive that he could feel. He watched the demonic form before him, so similar yet so different, fueled by rage and helplessness rather then pure emptiness. He realized that he was seeing his opponent's darkest moment. Perhaps if he defeated Ichigo his opponent would despair. Maybe they could stay together in the pitch black forever and he wouldn't be alone any more.

That old fool Barragan had one thing right: everything with awareness of itself be it human, Shinigami or even arrancar needed something to believe in…a leader, a god, a cause. He had nothing, his death aspect was emptiness, nihilism then Aizen-sama had come. What he wanted, his ambition didn't matter to Ulquiorra. It was enough that the man had a mission and he could help. He had a purpose now even if it wasn't his own.

As the contest wore on and blood dripped from both his and his opponant's accumulating wounds he wondered if perhaps he'd misunderstood the godgirl's speeches about her 'heart'. Perhaps she had been talking about a sort of belief, the belief that her friends would save her. He saw the strength that Kurosaki drew from his 'need' to do so. He had seen the archer fight him, completely aware that he couldn't win just to give the godgirl time to heal Kurosaki. It could be argued that the boy guessed his friend being healed was the only way he himself could survive, but he likely would have had a better shot just running and he wasn't stupid. He fought because he believed that he could save Kurosaki who would in turn stay to save him and the godgirl. It was an incredible case study.

Enlightened self-interest was what drove Ulquiorra to move his broken body and strike the white demon, if Kurosaki killed the archer, he would then finish off Ulquiorra himself. It had absolutely nothing to do with the godgirl's tearful begging. What difference did it make to him if one of her people killed the other when they were all going to die anyway? Her shrieking _was_ hurting his ears though, he did wish she'd stop.

x

As her captor faded away Orihime knew. He had kept asking if she was scared because he genuinely didn't understand. He knew that he'd die alone, in his mind everyone would. Of course the fact that she wasn't scared wouldn't make sense to him. He wouldn't be able to grasp how she knew that she'd be remembered, that her friends would fight on and carry her memory with them. He wasn't so lucky and in that moment she could see the terror in his eyes. She reached out to him and saw the change when he figured out that she _had_ grown to care a little despite herself, in this one moment he wasn't alone. She saw the look— as close to peace as she'd seen—cross his face as he disappeared.


	2. It's a Fox's Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slice of Las Noches life in CherryPOV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing but thedrunkenwerewolf owns Cherry. An x-mas gift for Sunky0ne because I was told she liked Cherry and it's the best way to ensure I don't kill any characters.

Cherry slipped quietly through the dark halls of Las Noches, jumping at every sound. There were bad, unnatural things in the strange cave system. She hid in the shadows behind one of the rock-trees that grew into the roof. The bitter musk in her nose belonged to the one her human called Nnoitra, she could smell the wariness on her Gin whenever they were forced to be together and knew to be scared.

She waited for him to walk by and continued cautiously on her way, prowling down the hard stone cave floor until the scent she'd been following became stronger, concentrated. Her prey had stopped moving, possibly having bedded down. She nosed the dead tree-piece that protected human dens. She was relieved when it opened at the pressure, sometimes they didn't and she would have had to scratch or wait. She didn't want to be stuck in dark hallway alone.

She moved through the den following the scent. It reminded her of the flying rabbits that populated normal caves, but stronger and with a burned tang. Empty green eyes rose to look at her.

"You're Gin-sama's" Ulquiorra said. She leaped unto the bed and wagged her tail with pride. "You shouldn't be here."

She cocked her head and gave small growl to say 'you're not my boss', that accomplished she bumped her head against his hand. Lonely humans liked it when she did this. Apparently, he was the same because he began petting her. This continued for several minutes before he picked her up in a manner very similar to her Gin.

"You're going back to Gin-sama before he thinks I took you," Ulquioraa explained quietly. She wagged her tail slowly, glad to be returned but feeling defeated. She could still feel the Tension and smell the stress on him still. He slapped his hand against her Gin's den-protector and it opened to reveal an annoyed, bleary-eyed Gin. She had come to associate this with the phrase 'For god's sake it's something o'clock in the morning'. She had no idea what this meant but knew it was the inevitable response if she woke him to close to sunrise though how close was allowed seemed to vary.

"Sorry to disturb you Gin-sama, this made its way to my room. "

"Ugh, thanks Ulq," her Gin mumbled and she was passed between them. She quickly nuzzled closer to his familiar scent, a bit of her own, a faint trace of her mate, the dominant, older smell of his own mate and something uniquely him. The Gin-smell was good, relaxed, neither particularly submissive nor dominant and a bit flowery. Ulq and her Gin yipped at each other some more and then Gin carried her into his den and settled her next to him as they bedded down together. She snuffled contently and nuzzled into his arm.

The next day she sat on his lap through a long 'meeting'. It was boring and took forever and she couldn't even doze because they kept yipping and barking. She couldn't even understand most of it. She used to be upset whenever her Gin went to a 'meeting' because he wouldn't take her. Since they had come to the night-world he always brought her, _if_ she was on 'best-behavior'. She wasn't sure which was worse. Finally, it was over and he let her down. She quickly darted off looking for something interesting, her claws clicked uncomfortably against the stone as she ran along. Eventually she slowed and strolled into a room with a noisy box, 'tee-vee' her Gin had called it. The room smelled like a cat and she growled a little out of instinct, even though she knew it was just one of the not-humans that populated the cave system.

She suddenly noticed his spiky blue pelt on the 'couch'. She'd been curious about it ever since arriving here. It looked so different from her Gin's soft, silver fur and she'd wondered what it felt like. She leaped over the side of the 'couch' to pounce on it. She screeched in surprise as she was thrust into the air and scrabbled with her claws for purchase. The not-human she'd landed on howled and while she didn't understand the words, she knew they conveyed anger.

She felt distinctly motion sick as he tried to shake her off which only succeeded in getting her claws more tangled. She hissed and struggled, scared now as the not-human kept howling. Finally, she fell free and twisted to land awkwardly on the 'couch'. The not-human roared and lunged for her as she leaped off the 'couch' and bolted, ignoring the pain in her hind leg as she tracked the scent of her Gin, running for all she was worth with the not-human thundering after her, still yelling anger-words.

Her claws skittered as she took a corner, the cat-scented, not-human hard on her tail. She dodged behind her Gin's legs and cowered, trying to look as 'adorable' as possible. She didn't know exactly what that was, but she knew what actions and poses got her that praise.

X

Grimmjow pulled up just shy of smashing into him and Gin stared at the panting arrancar. He then looked down at Cherry cowering behind him.

He reached for his sword, "You got a problem with Cherry-chan? What could a little fox have possibly done to you?"

He actually was a little curious, the arrancar's eyes blazed with rage and blood dripped into them from under his hairline.

"That mongrel…I was just…" he looked between Gin glaring death and Cherry who had laid down and was hiding her muzzle between her paws. "Ah screw it," he muttered and walked away.

When he was out of earshot Gin let his hand drop from Shinsou's hilt and picked up Cherry-chan. He check her over, she appeared unharmed and licked him before staring up innocently. He laughed.

"What the hell did you do girl?" He would have sworn she grinned as her tail started to wag furiously. Gin sighed and carried her away chuckling, "Well whatever it was, he probably had it coming eh?" she yipped as if agreeing.


	3. Appearances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after Ch.543. Bazz-B is nominally trans but I didn't want to fuck it up so I didn't take it too far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. A birthday gift for TransByakuya. This is a crosspost from FFN and I unfortunately do not what account he is under now.

Bazz-B watched Haschwalth staring at the newcomer and hid a wince. He was a man and a particularly fucking brutal example of one but had he not been, he would have offered his fellow Sternritter some form of comfort. Haschwalth stared hard eyed at the newcomer, he was so clearly trying to appear to not give a shit that it gave him away. Haschwalth was a cold bastard on the best day and the fact that he was actually putting effort into that was clear as dripping blood.

Screw it Bazz-B thought bitterly and grabbed another beer from the fridge. He carried it and the one he was already working on over to Haschwalth. The other Sternritter likely didn't want his help, he didn't blame him he was exactly the compassionate sort but he believed in loyalty and to see Haschwalth- more of a company man then the rest of them combined, tossed aside for some untested pup rubbed him the wrong way.

Haschwalth glanced over at him, he nodded and held out the beer. Haschwalth made no move to take it.

"What do you want?" he asked a hint of anger tinged the words and raised Bazz-B's hackles. Bazz-B swallowed the urge to smash him in the face with the bottle.

"Take it," he snarled. He would never regret asking Yhwach to make him what he was but occasionally he was embarrassed to find himself wishing for a little more diplomatic skill. Then again he doubted Haschwalth would be more accepting of Candice or any of the female Sternritter. He carefully avoided entanglements of that sort while the others banged a different chick every night. Admittedly he himself was now paying two of them off to not tell Yhwach but he still liked to think he was, in general happier than Haschwalth.

Uptight di...He felt a tug on his hand and saw Haschwalth looking at him unimpressed.

"Surely you can come up with something better than that," Haschwalth said. Bazz-B blinked.

"Sorry lost in thought I guess," He said gesturing with the bottle. Haschwalth took it.

"You thinking?" he asked and drained half of it in a swallow.

"It happens," Bazz-B shot back. "Wanna make something of it?"

Haschwalth shook his head and looked so defeated that Bazz-B didn't even want to punch him anymore.

"Shiiit cha look pathetic," Bazz-B never did have much of a filter. Haschwalth sent him a withering glare. "Just go kick crow-boy's ass if you're so pissed."

"It would interfere with the king's plan," Haschwalth replied as though Bazz-B were slow. Anger rose in him.

"Would ya stop bein' a bitch! The King is the king," Bazz-B lowered his voice and cursed himself a coward for it. "but he betrayed ya'," Bazz-B sneered quietly. Haschwalth looked away and though Bazz-B'd never admit it he had enough intuition to sense that Haschwalth was trying to compose himself. His superior brushed 'hair' away from his cheek though Bazz-B suspected he was wiping away a tear and looked back defiant as though daring Bazz-B to say shit.

"He's doing what's right for the war. He has a right to promote and tr-trust whoever he wants. It's not a betrayal," his voice cracked noticeably and Bazz-B felt disgust flood him. If the bastard started crying he was gone. He turned to get more beer and give Haschwalth moment to get his shit together to spare himself the awkwardness more than out of compassion. Returning with the beers and cracking his own he was relieved to see Haschwalth cold and professional as ever. They drank for a while in silence.

"Strategically it's sound," Haschwalth said as he finished.

"The fuck it is," Bazz-B snapped.

Haschwalth outlined his thoughts on their King's motivation. Bazz-B opened his mouth to tell him what a load of absolute steaming shit that seemed to be when his superior looked up and Bazz-B saw the desperation in his look. Bazz-B looked down at his drink and shut his mouth. Haschwalth knew he was grasping at straws and for once Bazz-B's need to be seen as a hard-ass took a back seat to his comrade's pain.

Haschwalth looked at him and he tried to avoid the gaze. Haschwalth's expression closed off again and Bazz-B knew that he'd read the skepticism in his silence. It amazed him that someone could be that expressionless and still look crushed.

They spent the rest of the day getting drunk together, something he'd never seen the other man do and he smiled. He might not have a bunch of pretty words of comfort but he had beer and was on Haschwalth's side. For tonight that seemed to be enough.


End file.
